Norfloxacin (NOR), a quinolone antibiotic contaminant, poses significant environmental and health risks. In this study, rice biochar-doped g-C3N4 (BCN) photocatalyst was fabricated via a one-step calcination approach. Substitution of bridged nitrogen with carbon atoms created delocalized pi bonds, which acted as both physical bridges between atrazine ring and electronic conduits to facilitate charge transfer. Among the prepared catalysts, the BCN5 composite demonstrated the greatest performance of NOR photocatalytic degradation, presenting a NOR removal efficiency of 88.11% with a rate constant of 2.94 & times; 10- 2 min- 1 over 2 h under visible light, approximately 1.51 times that of pure graphitic carbon nitride (58.46%). It showed a promising reusability and stable properties, maintaining 85.13% of its original performance after five cycles. Mechanistic analysis identified superoxide radicals as a dominant substance affecting the degradation of NOR. This research highlights the potential of one-step synthesized rice husk biochar/g-C3N4 composites as an efficient, low-cost photo-catalyst applied in environmental remediation and water treatment.

There is an urgent need to develop advanced materials that can effectively remove emerging contaminants such as tetracycline (TC), norfloxacin (NOR), and ciprofloxacin (CIP) antibiotics from water. In this article, a facile and environmentally friendly hydrothermal/co-precipitation approach was used to fabricate Ce-doped layered double hydroxide (MgAl1-xCex-LDH) photocatalysts. The photocatalyst MgAl0.92Ce0.08-LDH possessed highly efficient photocatalytic activity, such as rich mesoporosity, uniform sheet micro-morphology, and the largest specific surface area (131 m2·g-1). These properties promoted the adsorption of antibiotics (TC: 52.89 mg·g⁻¹; NOR: 17.41 mg·g⁻¹; CIP: 11.26 mg·g⁻¹), and the equilibrium data fit well with the Freundlich isothermal and PFO kinetic model. Meanwhile, they enhanced the photocatalytic degradation of antibiotics under visible light. The high photocatalyzed removal efficiencies of TC (90%), NOR (77.23%), and CIP (73.58%) within 90 min surpassed those of many other advanced catalysts. The excellent photocatalytic performance of MgAl0.92Ce0.08-LDH (TC: 0.031 min-1; NOR: 0.018 min-1; and CIP: 0.018 min-1) was attributed to the reduced band gap and efficient migration-separation of photogenerated carriers. The main active substances were confirmed to be photogenerated holes (h+) and superoxide radicals (.O2-) by introducing scavengers (IPA, P-BQ, and EDTA) into the reaction system. After five cycles of experiments, the material still exhibited good stability and outstanding reusability. This study highlights the promising potential of Ce-doped layered double hydroxide in various applications, such as wastewater treatment and environmental remediation, for removal of emerging contaminants.

Recently, sustainable biochar composites created from waste biomass and other benign materials have attracted increasing attention for their promising potential in the removal of organic contaminants from environmental media. A facile approach combining coprecipitation-hydrothermal synthesis with buried carbon pyrolysis was used to produce composites composed of Mg-Al hydrotalcite and hickory-chip/peanut-shell biochar which was tested for its ability to remove anionic Congo red (CR) from aqueous solution. The composites exhibited high specific surface area, high micro-porosity, and abundant oxygen/carbon-containing functional groups. The sorbents derived from hickory and peanut shell exhibited maximum experimental CR adsorption capacities of 1045.6 and 1195.0 mg g-1, respectively (20 times of pristine biochar) with removal rates of 86.1% and 98.3%, respectively, superior to those of hydrotalcite and many other advanced CR sorbents. The work highlights the potential of hydrotalcite/biochar composites as a promising adsorbent for water treatment and environmental applications.

Abstract Selective regulation of competing photoreduction pathways remains a key challenge in photocatalysis. Most materials that promote one target product often unintentionally accelerate competing side reactions. Here, we demonstrated that carbonized polymer dots (CPDs) served as dual function in graphitic carbon nitride hybrids. By varying the CPDs loading, the continuous increase in hydrogen (H2) evolution rate was achieved, while hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) production was suppressed. The optimal CPDs loading enhanced the H2 evolution rate by 5.4 times and reduced the H2O2 yield by 72%. Mechanistic studies demonstrated that CPDs introduction narrowed the bandgap, promoted charge separation and transfer, and induced a downward shift of the conduction band minimum along with a lowered Fermi level. These energetic modifications weakened the thermodynamic driving force for the two‑electron oxygen reduction pathway and steered the reaction toward a four‑electron process. This work established CPDs as a versatile platform for reaction pathway regulation and provided a generalizable strategy for product‑selective photocatalysis through precise band structure engineering.

The particle swarm optimization algorithm has predicted a series of binary cadmium hydrides that could be dynamically stable at pressures between 100 GPa and 300 GPa. These low-energy phases are composed of both Cd atoms and H2 molecules. Here, we propose a hitherto unknown metastable Cmcm-CdH6 phase, consisting of one-dimensional zigzag graphite-like hydrogenic H6 chains, quasimolecular H2 units and Cd atoms, which is metallic above 290 GPa. Due to H2 sigma -> Cd d donation and Cd d -> H2 sigma* back-donation, the electrons occupy antibonding orbitals for both types of hydrogen atoms. This results in weakened chemical bonds in the Cmcm-CdH6 phase via a Kubas-like mechanism, promoting the emergence of high superconductivity, which is estimated to be up to similar to 60 K at 290 GPa. This work will inspire the search for superconductivity in materials based on group IIB hydrides under pressure.

Hazard issues of natural environment become increasingly critical as global economy and industry was sustainably developing, especially for pollution of organic antibiotic and dye pollutants. Here, La2O3-biochardiatomite composite sorbent was successfully fabricated by ball milling technique combined with buried carbon pyrolysis approach, without use of any toxic chemicals. Their enhanced pore volume (0.192 cm3 g- 1), rich oxygen containing groups (Si-O-H and Si-O-Si), and modified porous microstructure both contributed to the removal of organic pollutants such as norfloxacin (56.6 mg g- 1) and levofloxacin (32.9 mg g- 1) antibiotics or cationic methylene blue (73.3 mg g- 1), achieved by BPB-25DT sorbent which was nearly 2.3, 1.5, and 3.2 times that of the blank, respectively. Modeling results indicated that these organic pollutants adsorbed onto BPB-25DT sorbent was probably conducted following multiple mechanisms predominantly controlled by chemisorption processes. After three regenerations, BPB-25DT sorbent still maintained a qualified ability (above 80 %) for removing organics, thus indicating its promising stability and good reusability. Those results illustrated the advantages and potentials of ball milled lanthanum oxide doped peanut shell biochar-diatomite composite sorbent applied for water treatment.

New and sustainable approaches for the removal of cationic organic pollutants, such as methyl violet (MV) and methylene blue (MB) dyes, from aqueous solutions are needed. In this study, hickory wood was pyrolyzed with montmorillonite and then ball milled with dysprosium oxide at 350 rpm for 3 h, without any use of toxic compounds. The resulting composite was rich in oxygen-containing functional groups (e.g., carboxyl and hydroxyl), had uniform lamellar-porous micromorphology and a surface area (88.9 m(2) g(-1)) 2.5 times that of the original biochar. The composite exhibited excellent removal of aqueous methylene blue (113.6 mg g(-1)) and methyl violet (107.6 mg g(-1)), which was approximately 6.6 and 2.6 times that of the biochar. Modeling and characterization results suggest that the adsorption of cationic organic pollutants on the composite was controlled by multiple mechanisms including electrostatic attraction, hydrogen bonding, ion exchange, and surface complexation. After five regenerations, the composite maintained methylene blue (87.4 %) and methyl violet (84.8 %) removal ability, thus demonstrating good stability and reusability potential. These findings highlight the advantages and potential of ball-milled dysprosium oxide-loaded-biochar-montmorillonite composite for water treatment and environment remediation.

Equipped with surface -enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) effect and magnetic manipulation capacity, a new paradigm of recyclable SERS substrates based on Fe3O4 nanoparticles (NPs) @SiO2@PEI-DTC adhesive layer @Au-Ag alloy quantum dots (QDs) were successfully prepared via engineering hydrothermal and seed deposition techniques. The SERS performance and uniformity of those substrates with different gold -silver (Au-Ag) weight ratios were evaluated by 4-aminothiophenol (4 -ATP) molecules, revealing that the relative standard deviations (RSDs) of all substrates were less than 12 %, with the optimal SERS substrate achieving an enhancement factor (EF) of up to 1.39 x 105. This phenomenon can be attributed to the magnetic core and plasmonic resonance properties of Au-Ag alloy QDs, which result in abundant interparticle hotspots in the Fe3O4@SiO2@PEI- DTC@Au-Ag (FSPAA) nanocomposites. Furthermore, the optimal FSPAA nanocomposite was employed as a SERS substrate for rapid non-destructive detection of thiram on fruit surfaces. The SERS signal intensity exhibited a robust manifesting a linear association with thiram concentration within the span of 1 x 10-4 to 1 x 10-9 M, and the minimal detectable concentration was 1.04 x 10-10 M. The FSPAA core-shell nanocomposites exhibit high reusability and reliability and hold great promise for the practical applications in on -site assessment of food/ environmental safety, as well as in spectroscopic identification of molecules adsorbed onto fruit surfaces.

Norfloxacin, a quinolone antibiotic pollutant, posed a significant threat to environment and human being health. In this study, hydrotalcite-based g-C3N4 composites were produced using electrostatic self-assembly and the structural memory effect of hydrotalcite to optimize their adsorption-degradation of norfloxacin under visiblelight illumination. Optimized hydrotalcite and g-C3N4 composite (750 degrees C, 40 wt% of g-C3N4) exhibited a highest photo-degradation rate constant of 1.8x10(- 2) min(- 1) with 83.98 % norfloxacin degradation achieved within 1.5 h under visible-light, surpassing that of bare g-C3N4 and hydrotalcite photocatalysts. The synergistic effects of the composite, such as uniform flower-like micro-morphology and rich mesoporous structure, resulted in a large specific surface area (58.67 m(2)/g), abundant active sites, and good photo-generated charge separation efficiency. All these facilitated both sorption (7.95 mg/g) and subsequent visible-light degradation of norfloxacin. Furthermore, the superior photocatalytic performance observed in the degradation of norfloxacin under visiblelight illumination was assigned to the effective transport of photogenerated electrons and holes between hydrotalcite and g-C3N4 components. The work highlights the potentials of hydrotalcite and g-C3N4 composites as an excellent photocatalyst for environment remediation and water treatment.

Antibiotics are of emerging concern due to their widespread use, lack of adequate treatment, and for their potential to threaten human health and the environment. Here, a facile fabrication approach for synthesizing ZnO/CuO-bentonite composites was investigated via carbon-bed pyrolysis of bentonite followed by ZnO/CuO co-precipitation. Sorbents were synthesized using a range of bentonite pyrolysis temperatures, metal oxide contents, and ZnO:CuO mass ratios. The ZnO/CuO-bentonite composites exhibited diverse functional groups, excellent mesoporosity, and high specific surface area (135.0 m2 g-1, four times that of pyrolyzed bentonite-only control). Ciprofloxacin removal was maximized at a bentonite pyrolysis temperature of 450 °C, a total metal oxide content of 25 %, and a Zn/Cu ratio between 95:5 and 93:7, and this material had an observed experimental CIP adsorption of 451 mg g-1 and a calculated maximum adsorption capacity of 1249.3 mg g-1. This excellent CIP sorption ability was attributed to its abundant surface active sites and multiple sorption mechanisms, including hydrogen-bond interaction, ion exchange, and electrostatic interaction. These results illustrate that ZnO/CuO-bentonite composite sorbents have excellent potential for use in environmental remediation and water treatment applications.

The frequent movement is an obstacle to the healing of wounds at movable parts. It would be highly beneficial if this characteristic could be utilized to accelerate wound healing process. Herein, we developed a sodium niobate (NNO) hydrogel (NNO-Gel) for promoting healing process of wounds at movable parts based on its photodynamic and piezoelectric properties. NNO-Gel is formed through incorporating NNO into polyvinyl alcohol‑sodium alginate hydrogel using calcium chloride as a cross-linking agent. NNO-Gel could not only produce reactive oxygen species for bacteria inactivation with simulated sunlight irradiation, but also generate electric field for promoting cell migration and proliferation through the frequent movement of necks. With simulated sunlight irradiation, NNO-Gel could kill 95.6 % ± 1.4 % of bacteria, 9.3 % higher than NNO nanomaterials. The cell proliferation rate reaches 148.41 ± 6.37 % by NNO nanomaterials with ultrasound irradiation through activating and phosphorylating phosphoinositide 3-kinase and protein kinase B. For infected neck wounds, NNO NMs and NNO-Gel show 23.6 ± 5.1 % and 25.3 ± 6.1 % higher healing rate than PBS treated ones. The development of NNO-Gel provides an opportunity for transforming the negative frequent movement which prevents wound healing into motive power for promoting healing of wound at movable parts, as well as the possibility of clinic applications for piezoelectric nanomaterials.

Advanced clay sorbents have attracted widespread attentions for applications in environment remediation and pollution control. Here, a facile and environmentally-friendly approach to synthesizing a porous Na-bentonite/ hickory-biochar composite sorbent from hickory waste biomass using hand-milling and carbon-bed pyrolysis was investigated. The sorbents, made using a range of clay/biomass ratios and at a range of temperatures, were characterized and examined for their ability to remove Eriochrome blue black R (EBBR) anionic organic dyes from aqueous solution. The composite sorbents showed increased microporosity and O-containing functional groups over the pyrolyzed bentonite control. The composite prepared with 10% biomass by weight, and at 600 degrees C had the greatest EBBR adsorption, and was best fit to Freundlich isotherm and intraparticle diffusion kinetics models. The modeled maximum EBBR sorption capacity of this composite (2020.5 mg g-1, R2 adj = 0.92), which was attributed to the dispersion of bentonite particles over the biochar surface. These results show the bentonite/ biochar composite to have great potential for use in environmental remediation applications.

Advanced biosorbents increasingly attract attention for their application in environment remediation. Here, a facile one-step approach to alkaline ball milling was used to synthesize a porous peanut hull biosorbent without heating. The alkaline ball-milled peanut-hull (ABP) biosorbent was characterized for its ability to remove Congo red (CR), titan yellow (TY), and methyl violet (MV) from aqueous solutions. ABP processed abundant O -con-taining functional groups and developed porosity, resulting in maximum sorption capacities of 4864.4 (CR), 455.9 (TY), and 126.1 (MV) mg g-1. Freundlich isotherm and PSO kinetic models best fit the anionic dye's (CR and TY) adsorption by ABP, indicating multiple mechanisms might control the adsorption process. Freundlich and PFO kinetics models best described cationic MV adsorption by ABP, suggesting the adsorption of cationic dye could also be governed by multi-mechanisms but less heterogeneous than that of anionic dye. The results suggest that alkaline ball-milling is promising approach to converting biomass into advanced biosorbents for organic dyes, especially anionic ones.

Solar-driven interfacial water evaporation can be exploited for freshwater generation with clean and pollution -free characteristics. The transport of water molecules from bulk water to the surface of the absorber is a key factor for efficient water evaporation. Herein, an oil body (OB), a spherical organelle extracted from safflower seeds, was used as supporting materials due to its low density and hydrophilic surface. After in situ polymeri-zation of polypyrrole (PPy) in the interior of OB, an OB-PPy absorber with excellent photothermal performance and water transporting ability was obtained. When adding OB-PPy into sewage or seawater, it shows higher water evaporation rate and freshwater collection capabilities than PPy alone. The highest evaporation rate (2.11 kg m-2 h-1) and evaporation efficiency (92.02 %) can be obtained in OB-PPy containing rainwater. The fresh-water collection rate can reach 1.38 kg m-2 h-1 when using a homemade freshwater collection device. Moreover, OB-PPy exhibits long term stability and reusability. Interestingly, we have found that OB-PPy lyophilized powder could absorb atmospheric water and produce freshwater from humid air. Therefore, OB-PPy holds great potential for solving the problem of freshwater resource shortage.

Biosorbent has attracted considerable attention recently for use in environment remediation and pollution control. Here, a simple and efficient method of one-step alkaline ball milling was designed to prepare porous hickory biosorbent without any thermal treatments. The products were characterized for their ability to remove methyl violet (MV) and titan yellow (TY) organic dyes from aqueous solutions. The one-step alkaline ball milled hickory (OABMH) biosorbent exhibited mesoporous microstructure, homogeneous morphology, and a diversity of oxygen-containing functional groups. Furthermore, OABMH could sorb 212.2 mg g(-1) MV and 5.6 mg g(-1) TY polar dyes, respectively, mainly through the surface complexation mechanism. Freundlich adsorption isotherm and intraparticle diffusion kinetic models best described MV adsorption by OABMH biosorbents. The results indicate that one-step alkaline ball milling technique is an efficient and economical approach for converting biomass into advanced biosorbents for environment remediation and water treatment.

Bacterial infection can lead to chronic non-healing wounds and serious tissue damage. The wound healing process could be accelerated through bacterial inactivation using some semiconductor nanomaterials with the irradiation of light. Herein, we develop sunlight triggered bismuth telluride-bismuth oxychloride heterostructure nanosheets as antibacterial agents for promoting wound healing, in which bismuth telluride can effectively narrow the bandgap of bismuth oxychloride, resulting in more sunlight absorption and higher antibacterial activity. In fact, the bandgap of bismuth oxychloride has been narrowed from 3.25 eV to 2.37 eV as proved by ultraviolet-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. With simulated sunlight irradiation, bismuth telluride-bismuth oxychloride nanosheets could effectively produce reactive oxygen species and inhibit the growth of both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. In vivo experiments further confirmed the excellent wound healing capability of bismuth telluride-bismuth oxychloride nanosheets. This work may provide a facile strategy for designing sunlight triggered bacterial inactivation agents.

New classes of biosorbents are needed for various environment remediation applications. Thus, a facile and benign approach to synthesize porous biosorbents was developed using acidic or alkaline one-step ball milling of hickory wood biomass (AcBH and AlBH, respectively) without any external heat treatment, and their properties were compared. AcBH and AlBH were richer in O-containing functional groups, had enhanced porous structure and greater ability to remove crystal violet (CV, 476.4 mg g-1) and Congo red (CR, 221.8 mg g-1) dyes from aqueous solution, respectively, relative to hickory wood ball milled at neutral pH. Freundlich isotherm and pseudo second order kinetic models best fitted CR and CV adsorption onto biosorbents, indicating a mainly surface complexation adsorption mechanism. Further, both sorbents exhibited excellent stability and dye adsorption reusability. These results demonstrate that acidic and alkaline one-step ball milling is a facile and efficient approach for converting wood biomass into environmentally friendly biosorbents.

Biochar has attracted considerable attentions for its potential in many environmental and industrial applications. Here, a novel facile and efficient one-step acidic ball milling approach was designed to fabricate a porous biochar directly from hickory wood without any external heat treatment. After characterization, the biochar was tested for its ability to remove Titan Yellow (TY) organic dye from aqueous solution. Compared to the pristine ball milled biomass (BMB), the acidic ball milled biochar (ABMB) had a greater degree of carbonization and a larger diversity of oxygen-containing functional groups. As a result, the ABMB sorbed 23 times more TY dye than BMB (maximum sorption capacities of 182.3 and 8.1 mg g(-1), respectively). Freundlich isotherm and intraparticle diffusion kinetic models best described the TY adsorption by ABMB and BMB. The results suggest that the onestep acidic ball milling method has great potential as a convenient and efficient approach to convert biomass to biochar with excellent characteristics for environmental remediation and perhaps water treatment applications.

Rapid wound closure and bacterial inactivation are effective strategies to promote wound healing. Herein, a versatile nanoglue, bismuth tungstate (Bi2WO6)-silver sulfide (Ag2S) direct Z-scheme heterostructure nanoparticles (BWOA NPs), was designed to accelerate wound healing. BWOA NPs' hollow structure and rough surface could effectively close wound tissues acting as a barrier between external bacteria and the wound. More importantly, the unique Z-scheme heterostructure endows BWOA NPs with an effective electron and hole separating ability with potent redox potential, where electrons and holes could effectively react with water and oxygen to produce reactive oxygen species, leading to a higher antibacterial activity against both endogenous and external bacteria at the wound site. A series of in vitro and in vivo biological assessments demonstrated that BWOA NPs could rapidly close wounds and promote wound healing. With sunlight irradiation, the inhibiting rates of BWOA NPs against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus are 61.62 ± 2.85 and 73.40 ± 3.28%, respectively. Also, the wound healing rate in BWOA NP-treated mice is 25.90 ± 5.85% higher than PBS. This design provides a new effective strategy to promote bacterial inactivation and accelerate wound healing.